Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli: Whole30, Paleo and 30 Minutes!

I’m combining two of my favorite things today. My instant pot and Chinese food! This Whole30 instant pot beef and broccoli is about a million times healthier than the beef and broccoli you would normally get in your takeout order. It also happens to be a quicker option too, with only 30 minutes needed to put this on the dinner table! Got your attention now didn’t I? Thought so!

I remember when I first got my instant pot this summer and was terrified of it. I remember writing in the first recipe I posted here about how it looked like a spaceship (haha!) and that I was so nervous to use it. Compared to my slow cooker that has two buttons for low and high, this contraption felt like I needed an engineering degree to figure out. But, alas, I managed, and now I couldn’t imagine life without it. Bonus: my kitchen hasn’t exploded (yet).

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If you’ve been hesitating on getting one for yourself, I’m here to tell you it’s worth it. Not only for easy 30 minute meals from start to finish, like this beef and broccoli or my chicken taco soup, but even for batch cooking! I love using it at the beginning of the week to cook a bunch of chicken breasts to dice or shred, pork, taco meat or roasts so I have a go-to protein for the week.

For this instant pot beef and broccoli, you can use flank steak or a beef chuck roast. If you use a chuck roast, make sure to trim any extra fat prior to cooking. Those cuts of beef typically are a bit fattier, but they’re also cheaper so it’s a good budget option!

Instead of a typical soy sauce (Paleo = no soy), I use coconut aminos. You can pretty much get coconut aminos anywhere nowadays. Target and Walmart even. My favorite brands are Big Tree Farms and just the Thrive Market brand because it’s way cheaper and I go through this stuff like water sometimes. I DID tell you I was a huge fan of Chinese food at the beginning of this, remember?

I did link to Big Tree Farms on Amazon, but just to show you what I’m yappin’ about. It’s way cheaper on Thrive Market per bottle (like half the price) so just a heads up there. Thrive Market gives you 20% off your first 3 orders as well, so you can maximize your savings there too.

The other ingredients used in this simple Whole30 instant pot beef and broccoli recipe are sesame oil, which is a staple for creating the well known Asian flavor in dishes. Along with using arrowroot flour as the thickener instead of cornstarch. Some other options for thickening sauces are tapioca starch, coconut flour or gelatin.

This Whole30 instant pot beef and broccoli is great served with cauliflower rice, broccoli rice or just on it’s own! You can make it for a quick weeknight dinner, or use it for your next meal prep. It makes plenty of servings to get you some delicious lunches for the week! Enjoy!

Instructions

Once oil is sizzling, sear sliced beef (about 30 seconds-1 minute on each side) in batches, ensuring not to overcrowd or over cook. Transfer to a plate once browned

Once all beef is browned and on the plate, add minced garlic to the instant pot and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute

Add in the beef broth, ginger, coconut aminos, sesame oil, onion powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Add beef and juices from plate to the instant pot, close the lid, and set to “sealing”

Select manual and set the time for 10 minutes

While beef and sauce is cooking, place broccoli florets in a microwave safe dish filled 3/4th’s with water. Microwave for 3 minutes until lightly steamed for al dente broccoli. Drain water and set aside. Mix in with the beef after cooking. *See notes for additional way to cook the broccoli

Once beef is done, do a quick release, and put the instant pot back into “sauté” mode

Slowly add in arrowroot flour, using a fork to whisk into the liquid as you add it. Add in broccoli and continue stirring as the sauce thickens

Remove beef and broccoli with a slotted spoon and arrange in a large serving dish or meal prep containers. Allow the remaining liquid to continue simmering and thickening

Notes

Optional way to cook broccoli: Once done the beef is done, do a quick release, remove lid, place in broccoli. Close the lid again, set to 0:00 on manual, and set to “sealing” to steam broccoli. This will cook the broccoli more thoroughly as opposed to lightly steaming it for more fork tender broccoli. Then continue with step 7.

Nutrition Facts:

Calories:418

Sugar:5

Fat:23

Carbohydrates:10

Protein:38

Did you make this recipe?

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Slow Cooked Paleo

About paleobailey

I’m Bailey. Whole30 Certified Coach. Former 300 pound chip eatin' couch potato. Current Paleo goddess. Just kidding. No, but I have found my passion for health, cooking and finally living like I mean it, all while dropping over 120 pounds naturally. Read More...

Reader Interactions

Reader Reviews & Comments

This looks great and I plan to try it. I too was terrified of my Instant Pot at first. I am wondering though, with having to cook the broccoli separate and sear the meat, what is the benefit of using the Instant Pot over a pan for this one?

Hi, Sonya! So sorry I’m just seeing this! You could cook the broccoli in the instant pot with it, I just prefer the broccoli to be a bit more fork tender with my Asian dishes, so I like to steam it separately 🙂

I LOVE this recipe! So easy! I’m glad you include to steam the broccoli in the microwave so it doesn’t turn to mush in the ip. I steamed mine for a minute less because I didn’t use the full amount. Perfect!

Thank you so much!! So happy to hear this! I like my broccoli more fork tender for Asian-inspired recipes and this is an easy way to do it! Thanks for stopping by to let me know how it turned out. It means so much to me!

Hi there! I would have to test that method before adding instructions on it being it’s a different cooking method. The IP does the searing, pressure cooking and thickening the sauce in one. I don’t want to give you the wrong instructions on doing that in the slow cooker being it would require doing parts of the cooking on a stovetop as well 🙂 Hopefully one day I can test a slow cooker version and share exact cooking times!

My husband asks for this meal at least once a week! And when we first started dating he would complain when I put vegetables on his dinner plate….so thank you for working so hard to make and post these!!

This was so tasty! BUT, the meat was still a little tough… should I have sliced it thinner? Let it naturally vent for longer? Will definitely make it again, the flavour was delicious! Especially with a spritz of srihacha at the end! yum.

Hi there! So happy you loved it! As for the beef, it could be a number of reasons, so I can’t say for sure without seeing how thick it was cut :). It could depend on the what the thickness was like you mentioned, or if it was cooked a bit too long when seared which would leave it overcooked and tougher as the end result, or that the tenderness of steak simply varies by quality of the beef. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help there!!

Hmm.. Did you use salted beef broth by chance? That’s the only thing I can think of being the recipe only calls for 1/4 teaspoon for 1.5 pounds of meat. But, if that’s too salty my suggestion would be to omit the salt or add 1/8 tsp instead!

Love this dish!!! I do struggle with the searing part though. I do it on sauté medium, but it takes 5 or more minutes before it unsticks and then it’s completely cooked through. Is my pan too hot, not hot enough, or do you just scrape it up after 1 minute or so, and not worry about it?

I’m so glad you love it!! As for the searing, you can just scrape it up after a minute! The sauce will deglaze those browned bits on the bottom and add lots of flavor! Other things that may help could be either slicing the beef a tiny bit thicker, or adding a bit more oil during the searing 🙂

I was weary of this recipe being bland, but it was SO GOOD. My entire family (5 year old included, so I halved the amount of red pepper) loved it. I’ve been struggling to find good replacements for my dinner staples since becoming dairy-free and this is definitely going to be made frequently here!

This recipe is so tasty. My husband and I love things a bit spicy so I doubled the garlic and chili peppers. I used stew meat and because my husband hates broccoli I used mushrooms, onions andd peppers and just added them at the end. I served his with rice and ate mine “as is” as I’m following a keto program. Super yummy, very filling and great for leftovers tomorrow

My first whole30 (and instant pot) Chinese dish and I can’t believe how delicious it was! Used flat iron steak instead of flank. Very tender! Can’t believe I didn’t miss the brown sugar. Will defo make again

I have a regular stove top pressure cooker. How do I adapt your cooking instructions for the broccoli? If I put the raw broccoli in after the beef is cooked, how long should it cook? I’m sure it’s a short time. I like my veggies crisp tender.

Hi there! I’m unfamiliar with a stove top pressure cooker, so I’d have to just advise you to use your best guess there- I’m sorry! The other option of just steaming the broccoli separately so they’re just fork tender is also an option, and what I do even when using the counter instant pot 🙂

Hello! Can you help clarify the steaming of the broccoli? You mention “quick release” when done – so do you mean let the pot come to pressure then release? I tried to do some research but it was a little confusing!

Quick release just refers to what to do with the steaming valve to release the pressure. After the pot beeps when it’s finished, you have the option to do a slow pressure release by keeping the valve/toggle set to “sealing” instead of venting- that method takes about 10-15 minutes for the pressure to release before you’re able to open up the instant pot. Quick release would be toggling it over to allow the steam to vent out and the lid to open much sooner :).

Additionally, you can just steam the broccoli in the microwave for 2 minutes and just mix it into the beef to skip that step 🙂 Hope that helps!!

Hi there! Soy sauce is a bit saltier and coconut aminos a bit sweeter, but it’s the Paleo version of soy sauce. Paleo is a term for eating unprocessed, whole foods- excluding grains, dairy, soy, etc. You can read my full in-depth explanation here: https://www.wholekitchensink.com/what-is-paleo/

Tried this tonight and we LOVED it! The meat was perfectly tender and the broccoli had the right amount of crunch. This recipe will definitely be part of our meal rotation. Also, this is only the third recipe I have tried in my instant pot I got for Christmas ????

It’s for the sauce, and when divided between 4-6 servings, it’s less than 1/4 cup per serving. I’m unfamiliar with WW and their points / what other options are- but you’re welcome to use soy sauce or tamari or whatever other soy sauce replacement you use!

I wouldn’t, as almond flour acts as more of a coating (think chicken nuggets) instead of as a thickener which is essentially what it does for the sauce in this recipe. It’s also much grittier than the arrowroot starch. Tapioca flour would be a better sub if you have that!

Hi, made this tonight and it was very good. I did a few things different to accommodate my diabetes. Arrowroot powder has a whopping 28 grams of Carbohydrates in 1/4 cup. 7 grams in a tablespoon of cornstarch, so I had to change that. I added more vegetables and went with a stir fry idea, but this was the base for it. I’ll definitely use this recipe again

I’m glad you liked it! Only 1 tablespoon is used in this recipe and there’s 7 grams in 1 tbsp of arrowroot- so it’s the exact same carb count as the 7 grams you said is in 1 tbsp of cornstarch. There would also be 28g of carbs in 1/4 cup cornstarch.
It’s also Paleo recipe, so being cornstarch isn’t paleo, arrowroot is the replacement for it, but I completely understand changing it to fit your own personal dietary needs! Love that you added more veggies, too!! 🙂

This is seriously the best recipe I’ve ever made. Even better that it’s whole 30!! My whole family loves it. This was my second meal ever in my instapot and my husband said it’s literally a “game changer” ???????????? thanks for the recipe!!!

I just got up from the dinner table. We had this with sliced cucumbers and a salad on the side, because I was afraid that my husband would be hungry without rice with it. It was so good and he commented that we didn’t even need the rice. I used stew meat because I didn’t have flank steak. I sliced the cubes so it was more bite sized. I prefer my broccoli crisp tender, but husband likes it softer, so I followed the directions to cook on manual for 0. He loved it. It was so delicious. Thank you!! Now I can have my Chinese fix and still follow paleo. 🙂

This was delicious! My husband was initially leery because I did another Whole30 asian inspired recipe that didn’t turn out so well. His first comment was, “Do you have plans for the leftovers?” because he wanted first dibs on them! Glad we have another easy recipe to put in our rotation!

Tasty and easy but crazy salty. we used low sodium beef broth and low sodium soy sauce and even used less than suggested and I still feel like I just destroyed my heart. Highly recommend using NO sodium beef broth.

It’s much more likely to be because you used soy sauce which has 880 mg of sodium per 1 serving, and low sodium soy sauce has 575 mg of sodium per serving – as opposed to coconut aminos, which is what this recipe was created with, that only has 90 mg per 1 serving. Even low sodium soy sauce would yield a result 6x saltier than it would compared the recipe followed as written.

Made this last night and I cannot believe how delicious it is! Since I have a lot of mouths to feed, I doubled the recipe. Living on the central coast of CA, we have a cut of meat called tri-tip and that’s what I used. So good! I used broccoli from Costco and since it comes in big chunks, my daughter cut them up so the florets were the size of a fingertip. When the meat was done and I released the pressure, it was still piping hot so I dumped in the broccoli and mixed it around with the meat and sauce for 1 min. I removed the meat and broccoli into a bowl to then thicken the sauce, and covered it to steam broccoli further. Perfect! This recipe is a keeper!

This is so delicious!!! Thanks so much for sharing! I’m still new to my Instant Pot, but this is my fave recipe I’ve tried with it by far. It’s so juicy and delicious and great over cauliflower rice. ☺️

This was the first “real” instapot recipe I made (other than hard boiled eggs and shredded chicken) and it was AH-MAZ-ING; I’ve made it at least a half-dozen times since then! I tried steaming the broccoli in the instapot, but I prefer your outlined method of steaming in the micro (or stovetop) and then adding in. I like my broccoli really crunchy – haha! 🙂

I made this on the stovetop in a dutch oven. Wowza! This was 1,000 times better than any other beef and broccoli I’ve ever had. I did add onion and shredded carrot to up my veggie factor, but yummo!
Thanks for this!!

I understand completely what you meant with the Broccoli. After it was done cooking the Broccoli (which I put on top of everything else) was fine. When I stirred it the Broccoli melted. Lol. Great recipe with a wonderful taste. Thank you!

We are newcomers to both the paleo diet AND Instant Pot, and we have found we love both! This receipt looked so good, so we tried it tonight. It was DELICIOUS! Much better than takeout, and I’m not exaggerating. I’ve never liked the beef that comes with Chinese takeout–it’s chewy and I just don’t like it. The broccoli is always too raw for me. This recipe has the seasonings balanced so well. It was fun to make on a hot evening when I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. I did cook the broccoli separately to get the dinner done faster but cooked it a bit too long–my fault. The only thing that we didn’t like was also my fault. I couldn’t find coconut aminos at the local grocery so went ahead and used regular soy sauce. The dish turned out too salty, even without adding the additional salt as recommended. I’m sure it will turn out perfect the next time with the coconut aminos. One recommendation: On a lot of these paleo sites (yours is the best so far), ingredients are listed out of order of using them. I have to constantly check to make sure I have not accidentally skipped a step. Other than that, you are a big help to those of use trying to lose weight (we’re in our middle 60’s). My husband has already lost 17 lbs. in the first month without exercising. Thank you for your excellent, tasty, well-made recipes!

I started following the recipe, but to me the whole point of an instapot is just to throw it all in. After trying to sear the meat, it taking forever, then trying to sear it on a pan, I just said screw it and put all the ingredients in the instapot and let it go. It turned out DELICIOUSLY! Super easy!

I’m SO glad to hear this, Kelsey!! And thank you for the feedback! I’ll give it a try with this method and add a note to the recipe after I give it a go. Super appreciate you coming back and letting me know how it turned out! <3 - B

The flavors were delicious and the ginger was a great touch and so were the green onions. The only issue I had was my meat was a little tough don’t know if my meat slices were to thick or I browned them too long. I didn’t find any compliant beef broth so I used chicken broth. It was still very delicious. Also my grocery store didn’t have any arrowroot so I used almond flour, the sauce thickened up a little. I want to make it again but maybe with a more tender meat. I served it on baby kale and baby spinach. Delish! Thank you

Seriously- my FAVORITE whole 30 meal so far!! Thank you so much for sharing this! My husband and I were fighting over the leftovers… keep the fabulous recipes coming! People like you make the journey to healthy eating fun and oh-so tasty 🙂

I made this for a second time this evening and my family couldn’t get enough of it! It was super delicious! I ran out of broth this time so I just added water and was still delicious. I sauté my broccoli with fresh garlic for about 1 minute then add approximately 2 tbs of water, cover the pan and simmer it for about 5 minutes on low heat. I served it with cauliflower rice. Super yummy!!!

I should have read thru. I was frustrated with my instapot. By the time I got to the end, I pulled the meal without reducing the sauce as instructed. I do think the instapot could be more user friendly imho.

This was a hit for everyone in our family and we are mood eaters…I didn’t have to beg them to try it because the house smelled so delicious that they were ready to dig in. All the flavors with a bit of heat was a wonderful (less than 45 min start to finish) meal!
Thank you for this recipe and I’m positive Beef Brocolli will be requested by my family very soon!
IP Asian Fans,
Mom, Dad, Teen and 8 yr old

This was amazing! It has a wonderful flavor without anything being too overpowering. The fresh ginger was my favorite part to add because I love the smell. 🙂 I was worried the meat was going to be tough but it turned out very tender, so I must have sautéed it in the IP the right amount of time! (I tend to over-cook things in general. lol) Thanks for sharing this and it definitely is added to our rotation!

Hi Jenny!! So sorry for the late reply here! Somehow your comment got missed, I apologize! But I’m so happy to hear this and I really appreciate you taking the time to come back and giving me your feedback! Thank you! <3 - B

Love this recipe because it’s so easy and very flavorful with just the right amount of spice. I put this over asian sweet potato noodles and everyone loves it. I’m making it again today. I think I’ll double the sauce ingredients.

I messed a lot of steps up and thought I’d surely ruined it but it still turned out to be the best food I’ve ever made. My boyfriend said, “Is this even Whole30 approved?? It’s POPPIN!” Lol. Thank you so much for this!!!

Have you ever used frozen pre-chopped broccoli? Any recommendations/accommodations I should make for frozen vs fresh? With two littles always under my feet, the less prep time the better, even if it is just 10 minutes worth of chopping ! 😉

Hey there! I haven’t, but I would just take it out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter from the start of when you begin cooking the beef, and then at the end dump it in and put it on saute mode to let it cook / heat in the sauce. You MAY need to add more thickener for the sauce, being frozen broccoli can sometimes hold a bit more excess liquid than fresh but it’s no biggie and would still totally work!

This was my first recipe using my new instant pot. It tasted better than our favorite beef and broccoli take out. My family couldn’t believe it! Thanks for the great recipe and for giving me the courage to use my instant pot.

This is one of my favorite whole 30 recipes! Super easy and love that it can be made in the Instant Pot. The beef is extra tender. I put the broccoli in after the pressure cooking part and the broccoli is always fork tender. Highly recommend

For the duo evo plus, I don’t have a “manual” setting – do you know if the equivalent is “pressure cooker”? Also the default “saute” seemed really high – do you have to change the temperature setting? Thanks!

Thats OK! Do you know the saute setting/temp for the model you use? I can figure out how to change it, just not sure what it should be to cook this correctly. I was worried about burning it/overcooking the meat and broccoli, so the sauce didn’t really thicken, and I wasn’t sure how to fix that. It still tasted great even with thinner sauce! haha!

I’m not sure. I can’t find the temp of what they cook at on saute on online. I don’t think you’d burn anything though. It would only be on saute to thicken the sauce for a few minutes, and you could stir it while it thickens to prevent anything like that. Another option would be to use a slotted spoon to remove the meat and broccoli, and then thicken it and then just pour the sauce over the beef and broccoli 🙂 And good!! I’m glad you liked it! :))

Instant pots work by cooking food under heat and intense pressure, so by adding the broccoli and then bringing the instant pot up to pressure, and then releasing it, the broccoli gets tender and “steamed” while the pressure is building, without overcooking it and pressurizing it to mush like it would if you pressure cooked it for the entire time. There are other options for steaming it written out if you don’t want to do that.

OMG this was so delicious. I can’t wait to make this again. My whole family loved it! It tasted better than in the Chinese restaurants! I’m so glad I found your site and can’t wait to try more recipients on your site!

This is an awesome recipe, very salty so I halved the aminos. Cooked the broccoli in the IP on 00.00 on low pressure and immediately depressurize, and cooked the beef for only 5 minutes as ours was pretty thin. We did not use the sauce afterwards to cut down on salty taste.

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I’m Bailey. Former 300 pound chip eatin' couch potato. Current Paleo goddess. Just kidding. No, but I have found my passion for health, cooking and finally living like I mean it, all while dropping over 120 pounds naturally.